AP Euro Exam Prep - Scientific Revolution & Enlightenment

STUDY

PLAY

the critical analysis of everything in society from religion to politics and the optimism that the human mind could find the solution to everything

Enlightened Monarchs

monarchs that supported the Enlightenment were known as this

Catherine the Great, Frederick the Great, Joseph II

the three main Enlightened leaders of the era

Copernicus

first to suggest a heliocentric universe but didn't publish his findings in "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" because he feared ridicule for his ideas

Heliocentric theory

the theory that the sun was the center of the universe

Brahe

set the stage for the study of modern astronomy by building an observatory and collecting data for over twenty years on the location of the stars and planets. His greatest contribution to science was this collection of data

Kepler

assistant to Brahe, he came up with the idea of elliptical orbits of the planets

Galileo

established experimentation (the cornerstone of modern science), invented the telescope, destroyed the notion that planets were crystal spheres. He was forced to recant his ideas by the Papal Inquisition and has come to symbolize the conflict between religious beliefs and scientific knowledge

Bacon

English politician and writer who advocated that new knowledge had to be acquired through an inductive reasoning process (using specific examples to prove/draw conclusion from a general point of view) called EMPIRICISM

Scientific method

the idea that it was necessary to collect data, observe and draw conclusions.

Descartes

"Cogito ergo sum" "I think therefore I am"; founder of Cartesian Dualism which reduced natural law into matter and the mind or spiritual and physical. wrote "Discourse on Method"

Italy

the place where much of the Scientific Revolution came from

Bruno

a Dominican friar executed by the Papal Inquisition in 1600 for arguing that there may be a plurality of worlds in the universe

Newton

greatest figure of the Scientific Revolution, wrote "Principia" in 1687, made laws on gravitation , experimented with optics, father of modern calculus

Pascal

saw life as a balancing act. sought to balance the dogmatic thinking of the Jesuits and religious skeptics. "Pensees" emodies the idea that became known as "Pascal's Wager"

Thomas Hobbes

wrote "Leviathan", view of the depravity of human nature led him to propose the necessity for absolutism. Out of necessity, the sovereign has complete total power over his subjects, subjects are obliged never to rebel and the sovereign must put down rebellion by any means possible

John Locke

wrote "Two Treaties on Government", believed that because man is a free and rational entity, when he enters into a social contract with the state, he does not give up his inalienable rights to life, liberty and property. Should an oppressive government challenge those rights, man has a right to rebel.

tabula rasa

Locke's idea that the mind is a blank slate and our environment shapes up

Immanuel Kant

German philosopher who said that the Enlightenment was to "dare to know". the ultimate reward of such lifestyle would lead to freedom.

philosophes

the Enlightened philosophers of France. they helped produce the "Republic of Letters", met in salons, and looked to reform society

Adam Smith

wrote the "Wealth of Nations", came up with the theory of the invisible hand in economics, and greatly supported the idea of capitalism or laissez-faire

Voltaire

the greatest philosophe, wrote "Candide", hated the Catholic Church and its narrowness and bigotry, he was a deist, and felt that religion crushed the human spirit and that to be free, man needed to "ecrasez l'infame!"

Montesquieu

wrote what was perhaps the most influential work of the Enlightenment, "Spirit of the Laws" (1748), wrote of separation of powers, a system of checks and balances, and wrote the "Persian Letters" (1721), also was a supporter of the anti-slavery movement

Diderot

wrote the "Encyclopedia" which was among the Index of Prohibited Books, offers an example of the 18th c. belief that all knowledge could be organized and presented in a scientific manner, important in spreading Enlightened ideas to beyond Western Europe

Rousseau

a philosophe who went against the current and antagonized many of his fellow philosophes, including Voltaire, didn't believe in a constitutional monarchy like many of his colleagues but rather in a direct democracy, was a leading figure in the radical stages of the French Revolution, wrote "Social Contract" (1762), helped set the stage for the Romantic Movement, wrote "Emile"

Cesare Beccaria

wrote "On Crimes and Punishment" (1764) calling for a complete overhaul in the area of jurisprudence in Italy, is part of the overall theme of humanitarianism found in the Enlightenment

David Hume

pushed further than French deists and delved directly into the world of atheism, wrote "Inquiry into Human Nature" casting doubt on revealed religion

Edward Gibbon

reflected the growing interest in history that was first seen during the Enlightenment in his monumental "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"

salons

meeting places for philosophes organized by women to avoid trouble with the authorities, yet despite the great role of women, little was done to improve their condition

Mary Wollstonecraft

wrote "Vindication of the Rights of Women" stating that women should enjoy the right to vote as well as to hold political office, the first openly published statement of such ideas

Junkers

Prussian nobility who looked to the ruler to ensure control over their serfs following the Thirty Years' War

Frederick the Great

Prussian power gained its peak during this monarch's rule, he freed the serfs on royal estates though to ensure continued support of the Junkers, didn't free private serfs, used Enlightened ideas to greater royal centralization and absolutism

Maria Theresa

empress of Austria who pushed a series of reforms that removed some of the hardships that had been placed on the serf population

Joseph II

supported the idea of religious toleration, particularly wished to reduce the power of the Catholic Church within his own domains, issued the first of a series of Edicts of Toleration granting Jews, Lutherans, and Calvinists freedom of worship

War of the Austrian Succession

a violent conflict between Prussia and Austria during the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, who lacked a male heir so pushed through the Pragmatic Sanction, but once Charles VI died, Frederick the great immediately launched an attack on Silesia (Austria) gaining the land from Prussia

Pragmatic Sanction

idea by Charles VI allowing for the Hapsburg lands under Charles VI's control to remain intact under one ruler and granting the right of a female to succeed to the throne of Austria if there was no direct male heir (Maria Theresa)

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

treaty that ended the War of the Austrian Succession, resulting in Prussia emerging as a German state and a major rival of Austria,

Diplomatic Revolution

following the War of the Austrian Succession, this reversal of alliances allied Austria with France against Prussia, Great Britain breaking ties with Austria becoming allies with Prussia, directly lead to the Seven Years War

French-Indian War

war between the French and British that resulted in France losing much of its colonies in India and Canada to the British, highly costly

Ivan the Terrible

a violent ruler who significantly expanded the borders of Russia, with his death came the "Time of Troubles"

Time of Troubles

this troubling time occurred following the death of Ivan the Terrible, lasted until the rise of the Romanov family in 1603

Peter the Great

reformative ruler of Russia, did much to modernize and Westernize Russia to compete with the west

St. Petersburg

Peter the Great's "window on the West", completed in 1703

Catherine the Great

Enlightened ruler of Russia, sexually active ruler, began revising and codifying Russian law but mostly dabbled about reform, later threw out Enlightenment when she felt it would threaten her own power

Partition

the process by which Poland was divided over the years among the various Eastern European powers

Robert Walpole

virtually the first British Prime Minister, except didn't have that title

Edmund Burke

argued in "Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontent" that parties were essential to parliamentary government and were a fundamental component for political stability

American Revolution

the fight for independence in the British American colonies during the time of King George III

parlements

French provincial law courts primarily made up of nobles that had the prerogative rights of registering royal edicts before they could be enforced